At this time of year

that I wonder?:-

Why am I so short?
Why are none of the tall people that live in this house ever home when you need them?
Why are drawing pins so painfull to remove?
Why have I chosen carpets that match the colour of metal drawing pins and why don't cats wear slippers anyway?
Where does all the dust come from?
Why does 'non-staining' bluetac leave a stain?
Why is it that stuff that came out of a box only 3 weeks ago and fitted perfectly will not, in any way, squeeze back in to the same box?
Why is it that it takes twice as long to put things away as it does to get them out?

Yes it's twelth night and time to take the decorations down. Martin is working all weekend and Wayne and Laura stay at his on Friday, and Saturday so its just me and the cat to remove all the last traces of christmas from the house. Well I got it all apart from the lantern lights around the porch because try as I might I just cant reach the last final hook even standing on the plastic garden chair, and it is way too wet and windy out there now to take the step ladders out. So they can stay and hang the superstition!

As all the cards come down I get time to look at them more closely and admire them, make a list of who sent what. This one is the one my padder mate Lyzzydee made me for the card swap and I adore it to bits.

And this is the first of my Birthday book pages, scraplifted from Clare Brown's calendar pages in the January edition (and sadly final edition) of Creative Scrapbooking Magazine.

I dont need a calendar as my Aunt sends me one every year for Christmas, but I loved her work so much that I decided I would make it into a birthday book, hopefully each month utilising photos of the people who have their birth dates in that month. So for January a photo of my mum.

On the reverse is a pocket to house my birthday cards all ready and organised for when the birthdays arrive.

(Sorry for the really crap scan but the scanner didnt like the very 3D card I have made for my mum). I have no idea what the blossom paper is on the front page as it is from a pack my mum and dad bought me back from their trip to America 3 years ago, but the back is Junkitz, with BG alpha stickers

More on digi scrapping

It would seem that since Katie joined up with the Padders there has been a fire of enthusiasm for digi scrapping sweeping the forum. Last night I encouraged through the wonders of Live Messenger, Kirsty to complete her first ever digi LO. I take very little credit for this wonderful masterpiece as all the ideas were hers. I just helped her find the buttons.

I guess I must be a little understated though because I have been offering up help and encouragement eversince I joined the girls, and although all saying yes they would try, it was not until Katie arrived that they actually put down their bits of paper, took up their laptops and had a go. So thank you for the push Katie, hopefully between us we can bet more of these girls doing it the pc way. LOL

So it did really mean I did another digi myself and this is another christmas page that really aught to be in my journal. Signs of Christmas was something I was struggling with but just before I took the decs down yesterday I snapped this decoration on my mantlepiece and I guess it has all the things in it I associate as signs of Christmas, the colours, green gold red, glitter and sparkle, lights, natural greenery , twigs, cones, christmas trees, and that lovely serene and calm feeling that comes along with it all.

I tried adding other elements and embellishments to this LO but it seems it really needed to let the photo do the talking.
The paper and brads are from the Christmas Red Collection Created by Meryl Bartho, the snowflakes a set of free brushes from the net and I played lots with the lighting effects and the filters on the photo.

What have I done today?

The day didnt start too well as Martin informed me the car was making rotten nuts and bolts noises and it turned out half the exhaust needed rebuilding at the pricely sum of £85. Then he needed new shirts for work as his have now all but fallen to bits. Good for Tesco who had some dirt cheap in the sale. Its really not worth him getting decent ones when he is filling shelves and pulling stock around but despite the fact he is management and is not supposed to do the heavy stuff he seems to do more of that than anything else.

Then most of the rest of the day was spent hoovering up pine needles as Martin took the tree down. The rest of the stuff is still up so tomorrow I will take it all down, box it up and do a really good clean.

I wanted to do some crafty bits - I am trying to use the wonderful calendar by Clare Brown in the last of the Creative Scrapbooking mags (I finally tracked down a copy) as a base to making a birthday book. I have nearly finished January but got sidetracked looking for the instructions to a waterfall book for a friend and now the scrap room is awash with paste mags and I cant actually see the table.

Things I have done

I dont do New Year's resolutions but I found this on Muckyfingers blog and thought it was rather interesting.
There's not many things left undone that I actually fancy doing so I seem to have done pretty well looking back. Those on the list highlighted in red are the ones I have achieved.


1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7 Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said “I love you’ and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg (well it was a glacier really)
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played DVD for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children (or…raising children)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane 109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Playing catch up

Martin has decided to have a lazy day today watching the telly which considering the hours he has been putting in lately is not surprising. He is still on call today and at 6 has to drive the round trip to Caterham just to let the night crew into the building!

Still it has given me a chance to do some guilt free scrapping, so 3 more pages for the journal!!

Happy New Year

I'm still playing digi scrapping.

CreditsTemplate Shir Benovich
Font CK Elves
Dani Mogstad baubles
Beatrice Zobel Advent kit

So our New Year celebrations were a bit of a let down but we still had a good time. We had arranged to go to our friends for a meal and then on to their local pub where the landlord had done a brilliant PR job on the singing duo he was getting in for the evening, including pushing back the tables in the restaurant to give a bit of a dance floor.

Things started well with a scrumptious and very filling roast beef with all the trimmings dinner followed by a huge helping of homemade apple crumble and custard, plus a bottle of wine. Felling extremly stuffed and a little tipsy we braved the wind and driving rain to walk to the pub. Laura and Wayne had popped in on their way back from a meal out and on their way to a party just to buy us a drink and wish us happy New Year. They had nabbed us a table and we settled down for the entertainment.

It was diabolical!!

The average age of the cliental was 75, the duo coulnd sing, the base was turned up too high and the landlord insisted on using main overhead lighting in all the bar sections resulting in no atmosphere and a general earbashing. Eventually at 11 o'clock we could stand it no longer and left to go get a coffee at our mates and see in the new year with Jooles Holland!

Happy New Year.

Digi scrapping

The wonderful Katie (of Wedigidareya fame and lots of other digi scrapping sites) has joined the Padders, so a convo on digi scrapping - who does, who doesn't, who wants to, what do they want to learn etc) has ensued. It encouraged me to open Photoshop again and have a bit of a play this morning.

Yes I know the photo is out of focus. Try as I might I just couldnt get any decent photos of christmas this year, but to be honest putting the camera down and actually enjoying the moment was far more important to me this time round.

Forgive me if I get the credits wrong - I played with so many things this morning I may have forgotten my sources.


Template by Conny B of connyscrappings.blogspot.com
Holly element from Meryl Bartho Christmas red collection at Digitalscrapbookplace
Papers freebie from Creating Keepsakes site, Echos of Asia by Jessica Spraque
And the doodly bit was a free transparency (TLC MerryMine) which I turned into a brush.

It was christmas day in the journal.

I've finally managed to do another page - going for a bit more simple style and even printed the title by putting the cardstock through the printer. The photo's aren't brilliant as the printer seems to want to give them all a lovely christmassy green hue.

Dead land between Christmas and New Year

This is my boxing day table. And the story to go with it? It starts on Christmas eve when I came home from the Crib service to find a little note on the kitchen worktop propped up against two empty used glasses. 'The elves did it....'

Did what?

Thinking Laura had come in with Wayne I texted her and asked what had the elves done it certainly wasnt any housework. Laura, knowing we were going out to the pub with our friends for a drink texted back asking her father if we were drunk. It apparently wasnt Wayne and her that had left the note. Kelly and Ollie had popped in for a cuppa between Ollie leaving work and going to their party. They had helped themselves to a (soft) drink and also munched through all the sausage rolls, mince pies and shortcake biscuits which Laura and I had spent two days baking ready for the mob arriving on Boxing day! They had also looked in the fridge and decided I wouldnt have any food for them on Boxing Day.

So Boxing Day morning Martin and I had to spend doing another huge bake in. 4 hours of rolling pastry, grating cheese (and my thumb- ouch) cooking another ham (they ate the first one three days before christmas) icing log cakes and mixing bread and biscuits!

So all the family came to ours and stuffed themselves silly, giggled themselves senseless as we opened the christmas pressies, and played board games on the upturned microwave box because the table was still groaning under grub!!

On the 25th day of christmas

I want to write a lot of thank you's but I dont have the time now so I am going to come back and do that properly, as well as write about our Christmas day.

For now I just want to record all the goodies this lucky girl got.

From my Secret Santa - A lovely mini album with a gate fold opening and a Lush bubble bath cake

From my Stocking swap - which I believe was from Lemon:

Chipz anchorz
A hand knitted rudolph finger puppet
Some chipboard flowers and paisley shapes
Double slide holder with two micro slides in it
Some scrub and moisturiser from The Sanctuary
A Santa Key decoration
A christmas stencil
chocolate coins
And some Maya Road Journey tins.

In my stocking (from Laura and Martin combined)
Four pair of christmas socks
Foam alpha set
Satin ribbon (reds)
Paper mania alpha stickers (two different sets)
Papermania accent stickers (birthdays)
Wire word (Thank you)
Exfoliating body scrub and bath powders
A chocolate reindeer

From Martin
Ankh PC game
Syberia PC game

From Kelly
The secret files pc game
Wintersmith (Terry Pratchett)

From Laura
Clean and Simple Scrapbooking
Book reading light

From Wayne
A large tin of choccie biscuits

From Pumpkin
Lovely furry slippers

From Mum and Dad
Keepsake PC game
Q/K die folk heart

On the 24th Christmas

My SS gave me a whole little baggie full of my fav chocs - Cadbury's fudge. I luuuuve my Santa and its Christmas so blow the calories!! This one simply wouldnt scan so I have taken a (rather poor) photo of it. Its the page about traditions and it seems we have developed a tradition of having to have bits shaved off the trunk of the tree each year. One year Martin used a chisel and sliced his thumb open, we ended in A&E. This year he attacked it with the bread knife. Luckily all the knives in our house are blunt!!
Laura always ends up decorating it. Kelly sometimes started with us but never focused until the end but Laura always has helped until it was done. This year she dragged Wayne over too, and we had music playing, mulled wine and sausage rolls.

Everything is done. I have spent the morning sorting christmas songs onto itunes so that I can run the ipod all day tomorrow. Then I discovered I have over 300 songs and only 170 fit on so I have all the songs A-J on the ipod. At least I got anything that starts with 'Christmas' LOL At 4 mum and I are going to the crib service at the small church near her, and then this evening over to our friends and out for a drink at their local pub. Martin has had to work all today so he will be tired when he gets home at half seven but I am sure still up for an evening of good company. Tomorrow after we have opened our pressies from Santa its off to my parents for the day. Kelly and Ollie are coming over early to open the presents with us and then going on to his nan's for the day. Laura will be with us until mid afternoon when she will go off to see Wayne and his family. Boxing day everyone is coming to us for the day and we are going to have tree presents and play our board games and what have you. I dont have enough chairs, plates or cutlery so that will be fun!

On the 23rd day of christmas

we got a letter from the LEA saying we had not been accepted for the foster carers program due to my anxiety. This is despite my doctor passing me as fine and despite our original application starting last May. They have said we can apply again in 6 months time.

My SS gave me a baggie full of more lush ribbon today and yesterday a bag of jelly tots. I am so enjoying this advent swap this year.

And Laura and I have spent two days baking for christmas. I saw these ginger bread trees being made on Blue Peter so we thought we would have a go. They are really simple to do. Any gingerbread recipe and then cut two christmas trees out. Cut one of the trees in half lengthways and when baked just 'glue' the halves onto the whole tree at right angles with icing.

On the 21st day of christmas

My SS sent me some large blossoms in lovely pastel colours. I am really pleased with these because I have been admiring some of the Aussie girls 3D work, especially Carole Janson and they use lots of these so now I can play.

And I got tagged by Scrapdolly.

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate I am a self confessed chocoholic

Coloured lights on tree/house or white?
White icicles outside the window. coloured lanterns round the porch, coloured on both trees (we have a real one in the lounge and a fake one on the landing) white lights up the staircase, coloured ones on the landing, and red santa's in the dining room. Can you tell I like lights?

Do you hang mistletoe?
No

When do you put your decorations up?
The first weekend in december but the tree goes up later because the central heating would kill it off too soon. It usually takes me about 3 days to do on and off because I decorate all the house.

What is your favourite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
I loves me roast turkey

What's your favourite Christmas memory as a child:
Waking up early to open my stocking

How and When did you learn the truth about Santa?
I dont remember but I suspect my brother told me

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
No - that would be norty and santa wouldnt come.


How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
Angel first then lights. After that the kids do the rest of the stuff, we have christmas music on and mince pies and mulled wine on the go as we do it.

Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Hate it with a passion. This stems from a field study course I went on in Wales when I was in the sixth form where it snowed every time we left the youth hostel but we still had to walk over mountains in blizzard conditions. It was so cold it broke the temp testing equipment!

Can you ice skate?
Yes - very slowly and not often because it makes my ankles ache. We used to go up to Stretham on a Sunday morning when I first started going out with DH.

Do you remember your favourite gift?
No, I just love getting any pressie.

What’s the most important thing about Christmas for you?
I love it all

What is your favourite Christmas dessert?
My FIL makes the puddings to a secret recipe handed down from his mum. It has enough alcohol in it to run a pub and is soooo yummy.

What is your favourite holiday tradition?
The crib service on Christmas ever incorporating the Christingle and a navity play at our local church

What tops your tree?
An angel

Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
Both.

What is your favourite Christmas Song?
Bing Crosby singing White Christmas

What is your favourite Christmas story?
Twas the night before christmas

So now I am tagging Shirleen!

On 2oth day of christmas

my lovely SS sent me one of those fold up hairbrushes for your hand bag. My girls were facinated by the one my mum used to carry round when they were little but I never got round to buying one. This is perfect for me because it has a mirror in the handle that is protected by the brush bit so unlike all my previous handbag mirrors it may not get smashed in my bag. I finally got to do another page for my journal. Now the cards are all out of the way and posted and nearly all the persents bought and wrapped I can finally go back to doing things for me!

Ok this may not look that much

but it took me all evening because the menu unfolds a little zig zag mini book filled with photos of our chrissie dinner - thats the bit that took ages - but unfolded it wont fit in the scanner so I am waiting for better lighting to take a photo of it. .

On the 19th day of Christmas

This blogger needs to catch up. Especially with my audiance growing since I have joined the Crafty Blog's site. Actually that is part of the problem, as I feel I should have something crafty to post but every attempt at catching up with my journal has been thwarted in some manner. But I still want to record what my SS has been generously gifting me. So just a couple of cards in the meantime.

On the 16th day ...a wonderful chipboard alpha, it was in a baggie so dont know much about its origin but its really lush

On the 17th day ...some Body shop Papaye Bath and Shower gel to match the Mango I had earlier

On the 18th ....lots of little shiny shiny beads

And today .... a little baggie stuffed with ribbons, in cream, white, grey and blue.

I have been such a lucky girl with my Secret Santa and am enjoying this immensely.

So to life. Saturday should have been catch up day on my journal but I still needed another 15 Chrimble cards, the room was a mess and I just didnt feel like it much. Plus the kids were supposed to be coming round Sunday to put up the tree so I spent most of the day hoovering and tidying (doesnt look like it now though). In the evening we went for a drink (or two) with our mates, and had a much needed giggle (or two). I have to say that even though the pub had its tree up there wasn't much of a christmas atmosphere - is this something I only remember from my youth or movies? I do remember we used to go out to the pub and the whole place would be twinkling with fairy lights, a roaring fire and the Sally Army would come round singing carols. Of course there was always a lot more people in them then too. Perhaps we are just going in the wrong pubs and everyone is in Weatherspoons - i saw people actually queueing to get in the Canterbury one yesterday.

The kids were late coming round to do the tree and again the spirit of Christmas simply didn't get going. I have a feeling they weren't really in the mood having been all day working on their house, and doing the rounds of B&Q, MFI etc for supplies.

And then yesterday I was a taxiservice for Laura as she had to go to uni with her work file but there was no room in the park&ride, so she came and asked me to drop her in. I ended up parking miles out of town, walking in and spending 2 hours wandering around waiting to take her home (it should only have been half an hour, and if I had known I would have gone home and come back). By the time I had dropped my application in to another school wanting maternity cover that was another day gone and nothing done.

In the evening we took my mum to see Eragon. I enjoyed it but felt the story line needed beefing up a bit, too many riding horses and scenery (beautiful as it was) shots, too many fight scenes with enemies who were not defined enough (whatever happened to white hats/black hats so you could tell the baddies?). Driving home was a bit stressful as it looks like winter is finally here, with icy roads and thick patches of fog. Still all home safe and still tucked in bed.

Driving home for christmas

Well not home exactly and not all for christmas but it does feel like I have been on the road all day. What I didnt mention when I said in my last post about going to get the christmas meat and potatoes is that after, my mum wanted to go on to a lovely little fish and chip shop in Deal to have lunch (parked on the sea front watching the waves and seagulls as we munch). My dad proceeded to zig zag across most of Thanet in order to get there and not take any of the same route twice. So it took about an hour to get there.

Then Laura had asked me to drive to Sittingbourne (about 23 miles away) to collect her from her 'drinks with the staff) after her day at school. I said I would find the pub and checked it out on multimap but I forgot it would be dark and I wouldnt be able to see road names. Anyway she wanted picking up at half five which meant I got all the oncoming rush hour traffic shining their lights on my rather greasy window screen, and despite my dad's best efforts we couldnt get the screen wash to work. Not only that at one point I must have dredged up some dirt from the petrol tank because the engine started to stall and overheat. There I am, lost on a strange estate, with a car about to die on me, and then I couldnt find my mobile phone (it had fallen out of my bag and gone under the seat)., only to be told my Laura that I could go home again as she didnt want collecting for another hour and a half!

Luckily my future son-in-law plied me with a cup of tea, the car cooled down and sorted itself out and I drove home. Wayne had to go get Laura which considering the state she was in (a tad merry) I am rather glad about. Just wish I hadnt spent 2 hours going there and back.


The upshot is that I have only done one more page of my journal and that is a scraplift of Scrapdolly's who has apparently scraplifted Shimelle's. So no originality today I am afraid.

On the 15th day of christmas

my SS sent to me ...well yesterday it was a set of 4 different coloured gel pens which I have already been busy using to finish off my christmas cards, and today some square sand chips from TLC which included a much needed sanding block, so I am a lucky little bunny.

I am falling way behind on my journal. I suppose it must be part of the grieving process but the last two days I have not really felt like doing anything much and I am even struggling to get the last few christmas cards done. But I am going to have a concerted effort to do at least one page this evening - if I can throw off the headache I have had all day.

We did do something towards christmas though, we took a trip (mum dad and I) down the coast to a farm shop we use to buy the veg for the christmas dinner and then on to a really good butchers to buy the meat. We each got a huge home made apple pie too!!

And the job? Well it came as no surprise but the school has decided not to appoint (again) and from comments made to me in the interview I suspect this decision had been made before interviewing me and def. before interviewing the Thursday appointment.

I would just like to share this card with you all. Angela, a fellow cardmaker and scrapper on the Pad forum, was having a bit of a joke over some of the things she was asked to do on commission makes, so in our Pad card swap I had asked for some outrageous requests on my card. Angela came through to the letter! I think it is brilliant!!! Thank you Angela.

Another christmas journal page

But how I managed this one I dont know because there are wrapped and unwrapped chrissie pressies all over the scraproom floor, and the table is covered in half made cards or cards in envelopes or about to go into envelopes.

Last year I spent ages and a lot of digital memory trying to get a decent picture of my christmas tree. I eventually asked santa for a tripod as I just couldnt get enough light into the camera and keep it steady at the same time. So these 'bits' of tree are all I could really salvage. But Santa is a lovely man and he also bought me a really good camera book so this year, when the tree goes up, I am going to have another go. So the photos lift up leaving space for journalling and the brilliant brillant photo I am going to take of this years tree! We all insist on a real tree in our house, we always have (despite the dog as a puppy or the cat). Its not Christmas without the smell of pine and hoovering up pine needles on a daily basis. When I had Kelly, mum kept saying I wouldnt be able to have a real tree with a baby in the house but when we got it I took her up to it, gently applied her finger to a needle so she could feel what it was like (not hard so it didnt hurt her) and told her it would hurt her if she touched it. She not only didnt touch it but 4 years later when her sister was born I watched her give the exact same warning to Laura.

On the 13th day of Christmas

came a day of mixed emotions.

I was off for an interview for a teaching post today. I had just put on my make-up when my mum phoned. She had forgotten about my interview and called to share the sad news that my Uncle in Australia had passed away in the night. Although he has been very ill for some time it still came as a shock and rather than go for an interview all I really wanted to do was go give my dad a huge cuddle because as he said, he hadnt just lost a brother but a friend. They spoke on Skype every day and I know my dad is going to miss him. My Uncle Vic had a heart of gold and was very good to me as a child so I would just like to say Goodbye to him here and now.

Of course that is not the best frame of mind to go to an interview and although the actual question/answer bit seemed to impress the board, the teaching was pants if I say so myself. I had pitched the whole session far too low for the class (difficult to get right even when you know the class) so behaviour was off the wall. I wont know anything officially until tomorrow but I am not holding my breathe.

Still I came home and did a search on the web, to discover there is a job in a school a bit nearer going so I still have something to apply for.

Then came the really silly part of the day. My dad is a qualified electrition so you would expect he would be good with technology, and yes he is one of our silver haired pc uses, but at 76 he is getting a bit confuddled so he doesnt own a mobile phone. Mum does but if she goes out without my dad or my dad goes up his allotment she gives him her mobile so she can phone him. Bear in mind he is also totally deaf in one ear and doesnt hear much in the 'goood' one either.

So he phones me up in a panic. He dropped mum, off down the highstreet to do some shopping and went up the allotment. Mum phones but he doesnt know how to connect the call. He thinks she must be phoning to say she is home now so he goes home. Mum is not there. The mobile goes another 3 times but he still cant figure out how to connect. He then rings all the places mum may have gone. No one has seen her. It turns out she was ringing to say she would meet him at the allotment but when he didnt answer she walked up there anyway. Not finding him (because he has gone home to look for her) she walks home stopping at a couple of phone boxes on the way to try and tell him where she is. I, in the meantime tell him to do 1471 on the mobile (having to talk him through it as I am on the land phone to him). After 4 attempts (its a long number) he gets the number and rings...the empty phone box.

So this comedy of errors is my life in a nutshell really LOL

Anyway a lovely Mini Tag Book Kit from my SS today. A lush card from my padder card swappee Lyzzy and another card from my lovely mate Angela but I shall say more about that later. Oh and we went to see The Holiday last night, lovely feel good christmas film, go see and enjoy too.

On the 12th day of christmas

my SS sent to me a packet of yummy mint aero bubbles! And yesterday a lovely shopping list pad made by House Mouse. I think House Mouse is just sooo cute.

Today I have been down to the job centre to sign on for Job Seekers Allowance. The people were very nice but even in the nice new building with every reason for me to be there it still felt intimidating. As a professional teacher I am 'allowed' to only look for teaching jobs in the next 13 weeks. After that I may have to look for other jobs. Since a term is 13 weeks and jobs come up termly, not weekly I thought this a bit unfair but its one of the things you have to agree to. And I also have to make at least 3 applications a week. I tried explaining to him that in the time I have been looking (since last may) there have only been about 7 or 8 jobs that I could have applied for so how am I going to find 3 per week? He said they expect you to cold call. I explained that Head Teachers expect a certain etique to be followed and cold calling is not part of that. In fact with some Heads cold calling could actually put them off giving you any kind of job. While he agreed with me, and even looked on his computer to discover there are zero teaching jobs in the whole of Kent, he still insisted I have to sent three applications off. So I have no idea how I get round that one. I guess I will have to find out when I go to sign on in a weeks time. *sigh*

Anyway back to scrapping. Well I would have done some last night but for some reason we suddenly lost all our terrestrial telly channels. After I had pulled the tv forward, checked all the wires, unscrewed and rescrewed all the connectors, it became apparent that the Dover mask was playing up. So when Martin came home I asked him to push the telly back in to place. Thats when we lost all our sky channels! So another 90 mins playing about to discover it seems to be the video recorder - it may have lost its tuning and all the channels go through it. So bypass that and ...its 11.25 and way too late to do any of my christmas journal.

On the 10th day of Christmas

My SS sent me a bag full of foxes glacier mints. I loved all those adverts with the fox and the polar bear, took me back to a lot of christmasses past when I opened the parcel.

I should have been sorting out a lesson plan for the interview I have on Wednesday, instead I got up early and did a page of my journal and then did another this afternoon. Hubby has had to work all day today and Laura was at her other half's so I have been on my own all day. I made some toffee popcorn and settled down to watch films, they were re-running Oliver with Mark Leister so got to have a good old sing song too!

Right, no idea what page number this one is. I took some photos of the cards I made and then shoved them all in the envelopes. I never thought to check if the photos were ok, they weren't, they were all blurred, which is why the LO has them all hidden behind bits of greenery.

Only 4 LO's behind now.

Perfect Christmas page

I think in redoing some pages I have got the days mixed up but never mind Perfect Chrismas!!! And sorry the scan has come out a little dark so the shiny micro beads on the christmas ornament dont show up (after I spent ages glueing them all on)

The exclamation marks are because each tag tells of little! incidents that nearly stopped our christmas from being perfect, from the time hubby stuck the chisel through his thumb trying to whittle the trunk of the christmas tree thin enough to go into the stand, the time Martin bought home a tree so pathetic I sit and cried and he had to go out and buy a second one, to the time my SIL accidently managed to lock herself in the toilet just as we dished up a family dinner to 14. Lots of Kay & Co papers that I was too busy stroking to use last year. MM pewter christmas charms, Heidi rub ons and SEI stickers.

Another page

The Count down door opens to reveal photo of our Santa's workshop advent that has been coming out every year since DD1 was born 25 years ago. I've never seen another advent like it, you dont open doors but each day slot a little cardboard figure into the workshop scene until Santa arrives on christmas eve. The girls love it so much I have had to scan in and make a second one for DD1 to take to her own home and have instructions to make a third for DD2 when she moves out next year!

Journaling also tells how I have to buy Cadbury advent calendars for the girls, my husband AND the girl's boyfriends. As well as which we also have a felt tree with little felt objects to hang on it which I made for school but because we break up before christmas eve I never made the last 5 objects.

On the ninth day of Christmas..

my SS sent me some special shrink plastic which I luuuurve and cant wait to use!! And now I am off to get ready for my crop. Hope to have some pages to upload later.

Christmas shopping page

Loads if stuff on this one, journaling to tell how Mum and I always had a day out christmas shopping together, hidden behind photo is this years christmas lists from everyone and some more journaling about how we always make a list and pass it round for each person to cross off what they are going to buy, and then journaling down the side explaining the photo. Kelly wanted a 'mum and daughter shopping day but wanted to hit Bluewater AND Lakeside in one day. This is the result!!!!
Discovered 8x8 fits through the printer - trouble is it doesnt always print in a straight line. However the actual photo IS straight but its got a bit distorted by all the journaling underneath.

On the 7th and 8th day of christmas

lots of things happened!



My SS sent me some lovely glass beads, and today a packet of toffee poppets. We used to get poppets on the way home from school, either in the train station shop or more often from the plateform chocie machine, Ahh happy yummy memories.

I also got a phone call from a school I applied for ages ago inviting me to an interview next week. I have now got to sort out a maths lesson for 30 reception children.

And I decided that the format of my christmas journal simply wasnt working. I am used to scrapping 12x12 - square, so the rectangle just wouldnt do it for me. So I have taken the drastic step of restarting. I am much happier with the results, I know that if I hadnt done this I would have given up. Of course it does now mean I am several pages behind but I think it is worth the bother. Plus I also found some Basic Grey Blitzen left from last year which gives me a bit more scope.

Finally, page 2 of journal

I have actually started every page but every page needs a little tweek to get it finished. I hope to get them all done and up to date tonight. This is the one for 2nd December

Journalling reads "I love those old fashioned Christmas cards with Victorian snow scenes, skaters with their hands encased in muffs, carol singers in front of bay windows snow piling up in the corners, cottages in snowy fields. In reality I hate the cold silent stuff though, and much prefer my Christmas to be rainy, dark, murky so I can enjoy curling up indoors, drawing the curtains to feel cosy and listening to the drips hitting the conservatory roof, watching the sparkle of the Christmas lights, lighting aromic candles or building a roaring fire in the grate. I love walking along wet pavements twinkling fairy lights reflecting in the puddles and decorations gleaming and distorted by raindrops on windows."

On the 5th and 6th day of christmas...

my SS is still sending me wonderful gifts. Yesterday I was facinated by this thing - a folding ruler. OK so little things please little minds but at least my SS realised that LOL
Today she sent me some microbeads, seasonal red and white ones mixed in a bag and some lovely heart shaped buttons. I love all things heart shaped. DD even had to buy me an engagement ring with the diamond set in a heart shape setting.

On the fourth day of Christmas .....

my Secret Santa was so genourous and sent me a bottle of Body Shop Mango Bath and Shower Gel.

I can't believe I am being so spoilt and how did she know I just love Body Shop stuff? In fact Thursday is late night shopping in Canterbury and the Body Shop there are having a 25% off event for 'Love your Body' members. My yearly membership runs out next month but it has been so worth it. I have saved sooo much so if you adore BS goodies I highly recommend investing the £5. I have had that back 10 times over at least.

On the third day of Christmas ...

my SS sent to me..
some Tim Holtz pastel words Doo-dads, I am one lucky girl.

I also managed, finally, to get my christmas banner to work. Credits to Martha Bartho and www.digitalscrapbookplace.com for the holly elements.

Today I took my mum and my youngest daughter Laura to the Christmas Craft Fair. Mum and I have been for the last four years, the first time it was packed and there were tons of lovely hand made stuff from knitted baby clothes, lathe-turned wooded tree decs to Christmas cards but we have seen a decline in the number of people going and the kind of work being exhibited. I was surprised Laura even wanted to come as its not really her bag, especially as is customary, it was blowing a terrible gale, chucking it down with rain and was fairly early (for her) on a Sunday morning. As it turned out she was the only one to buy anything, there were some lovely things but priced out of our bracket for the presents we have still to buy. Anyway Laura bought a hand embroidered baby bib for a friend who is due a little addition real soon, and a really good quality hand knitted scarf for her boyfriend's mum.We got plenty of inspiration for things we could make ourselved too, so despite the weather a successful visit.

We were also going to go to our local town Victorian Street Market but by the afternoon Laura was feeling unwell with a rotten cold, mum had gone home to the warm and even though it had stopped raining I had reports that the road had not been shut and very little was happening. Maybe it had been cancelled due to the adverse weather, but I stayed in and did some more work on day 2 of my Christmas Journal.

Watch this space, I need to do a little more work on it before I share, but I really am having fun with this project.

On the second day of Christmas ....

my Padders Secret Santa sent to me....

A yummy mini box of After Eight mints. I LOVE chocolate!

On the first day of Christmas...

my Padders Secret scnta sent to me...

Some lovely Barn Red SEI alpha stickers

Blogger?

I don't know what has happened but yesterday my Stat counter dissappeared, then this morning my slide show. When I looked on my template half the code had dissappeared so I have had to start again from scratch. At the moment I am still having trouble getting the banner up so sorry back to plain old me until I get it sorted.

Christmas Journal

All over the world scrappers are posting their first page of their Christmas Journal following an online class being run by Shimelle Lain. Sadly being out of work and having to watch the pennies I couldnt afford to sign up for this class (although I would have dearly liked to). but I still wanted to join in the fun and make myself a Christmas journal. So I am going my own way, doing my own thing and hope that the end result records the true spirit of Christmas 2006 for our family.

Anyway here is my first entry.

The journalling reads " Next Christmas is going to be so different. Kelly already lingin in her own home will be married to Ollie and Laura & Wayne will be living in the house they are building together, so this maybe the last teime we have our tradition Christmas. Already some of the traditions we built up as a family with the children have changed or been lost as the girls have got older. We have already decided that I will not be doing stockings for them this Christmas eve. So before everything changes or is lost I want to keep this journal to record Christmas 2006.

Today I did my first day of supply teaching. It was really hard work, although the children were lovely (although a little lively) and the plans left for my by the class teacher worked well and were easy to translate into my own style. But I had forgotten what a long day it can be, how you have to be aware and on your feet all the time. I am totally exhausted. It was really great to be back in the classroom doing what I know I am good at doing though.

Christmas excitment

Ok I know I keep going on about Christmas, but I have to admit I am like a little kid when it comes to this time of year. In fact according to my family I am WORSE than a child, every year getting up way way before the children were ever awake to get them to look in their stockings. I guess I was lucky, my parents always made it so special, even though often we were living hand to mouth there was always a huge pile of pressies under the tree, special treats in the way of food and drink and a brilliant brilliant family atmosphere. I want to remember, record those memories and my scrapping speed is not a match for the speed that my memory is failing so this blog seems a great place to record until I can get the stories and photos on a LO.
So my christmas as a kid? Well as I said, we never had much money, people were paid weekly in cash in those days (hard to beleive now in the land of plastic credit cards and easy debt) but often my parents got to the day before payday and we were living on eggs alone. I have a big extended family, my dad is one of seven and they have all married and had children so alot of cousins. Then living in Kent September was spent out in the hop fields earning some extra dosh which meant (for us kids) we met and aquired lots of extra 'aunts' who would give us christmas presents too. I don't really know how my mum managed to afford presents for all those she had to buy for but she did. I can remember helping her wrap and tick off the very long list, checking several times that no one had been missed.
There were always ways to save a few pennies though. Maybe thats where my love of papercrafts started? When dad came home with our packet each of pre-gummed paper strips to make the paper chains? When mum went out looking for the perfect tree twig to paint white and use to hold little ornaments made from silver paper? My Grandad worked for Bowaters, the paper mill and would get some of that white core silver and gold card to make into decorations. Then there were the traditional snowflakes cut from sheets of paper, the silver paper bells made by fashioning the paper over your finger, pine cones sprayed with silver paint, tags cut from last year's christmas cards. It seems that for days our table would be covered with glue, paper, card (much like mine now I suppose LOL)

Cybercrops

Two, yes TWO cybercrops on each of the forums I belong to this weekend. And I managed all of .....two classes.

I used to love cybercrops, well I say that, I only ever got involved in the UKS one and I really enjoyed it at the beginning. When I first joined it was ALL about scrapping and with a smaller community it had a terrific feel. Layouts were encouraged from the stash you all ready owned and classes focussed on technique rather than style. Simple challenges were dotted throughout the weekend and I would dash about trying to do EVERYTHING!!

But now its just too big, too busy and too .... Oh I dont know ... arty? for me. Scrapbooking doesnt seem t o be the main reason for the whole chebang anymore. Firstly nearly all the LO's need you to buy a kit. OK they SAY you dont, but this time round you really did need some of the stuff in the kits to do the classes. Which wouldnt be so bad if the kits didnt sell out within minutes ... and I do mean literally minutes, apparently this year there were people sitting at their computers repeatedly hitting refresh just to be in on the word go when the kits when up for sale! Which is a bit unfair on those for which Real Life must come first.


I think that is what puts me off the UKS cybercrops nowdays, the unfairness of the whole thing. I'm not knocking the organisors, far from it, it's just got too big to even think that it would cater for everyone involved, but it certainly disadvantages you if... you work or can only get to the computer for short periods of time at set times, you dont have money to buy every item needed, or you are not into altered art, or decorating clipboards.

And the pace is unbelievable now, again disadvantaged if your pc is not near your scrapping area because with so many challenges invovling whole LO's and so many classes there is just no way...!

On the other hand the one day cybercrop on the pad was just my pace, with just enough good quality classes, using things you can find in your everyday stash or if not, clear instructions or templates on how to make them or adapt stuff. A good mix of challenges and quizes and none of it reliant on either visiting sponsor's shops or buying stuff you can ill afford just near christmas.

Of course having said all that I was out for most of yesterday and then when I got in felt so rough with a winter cold coming that I didnt actually do anymore than download the classes, peruse the respective galleries and retire to bed. But what I do want to say is, whether the pace or classes or whatever were to my taste or not, a big thank you to all those ladies who work so hard to organise such events for us all.

Christmas in a box

Friday, since it was hubby's day off and he had to venture into the loft for the curtain rail anyway, I got him to get the christmas decorations down. This has become known as "Christmas in a box" by the girls and usually caused great excitment when hauled out for its annual airing. Mind you somewhere along the line two tatty cardboard boxes containing all of the tree and hanging decs has grown to 5 large plastic lided containers and two smaller plastic storage boxes. Where did it all come from??????

Well lets see...one is full of 'christmas teddies and stockings', so that one is easy because each year, traditionally, Santa bought the girls a new christmas teddy and although Kelly has moved out and taken her share of them, Laura's are still here. And the stockings? We started off with two red fur fabric ones that Martin's mum made for the girls when they were small, complete with their names on cut out of black felt, but gradually the collection has grown as presents of sweets, or just as decorations sent from my Sister-in-Law in America.

Of course I also had to supply the decorations for the classroom at school. We were given £10 eac year but most of that went on the children's christmas party prizes so I consider any decs I bought for the school to me mine. Lets face it a decent artificial tree cost me £30, and during my time there I have had to buy two of them! So that accounts for another three boxes.

I used to put real ivy, holly and large chunks off the laylandi trees on the bannister and over the fire mantle, but the cat (a new addition four years ago) found that rather tasty and kept eating it so now there is a box full of artifical garlands. Its not the same, I miss my greenery, the smell, the hoovering up of dead leaves, but there you go...

A box lablelled 'lights'. Mmmm well..I love lights. That's the whole magic of of Christmas for me, enjoying all the sparkly fairy lights against a dark winter night's sky. On my route home most evenings there is a house with a single reindeer light up on the flat roof of the garage. No over-kill just one single reindeer lit with white lights and it looks fantastic, set against the black backdrop. My lights on the other hand .... well hubby isnt really into the "untangling, sorting through the lights to find the one that has blown, hang them up by climbing up a ladder" thing. But I still manage to drap quite a few little twinkling bulbs about the house. I love the ones peeping through the garlands on the mantle and down the banister. I'm not so keen on the lanterns we have round the porch door though as you can guarrantee that at least once I will have to walk down the road looking for the plastic holders that have blown away in the wind.

Christmas preparations

I have been busy getting in the mood and getting ready for Christmas.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS !!

and have been making cards, wrapping my advent swap pressies, buying advent calendars for the kids (even though they are 21and 25 years old) and sorting out pressie lists. I've also filled my ipod with christmas music and have started blasting it out in every room in the house plus the car. A different cd in every player!! Currently its Bing Crosby on the pc, Motown in the lounge, Christmas classics in the kitchen/diner and Trans-Siberian Orchestra in the car (which frightens a few old ladies when played at full pelt down the high street LOL). I am so jealous of my eldest DD who is now working in London so last night after work she took her boy friend to Oxford Street to see the lights, window displays and to play in Hamleys.

We discovered Hamleys when my eldest Kelly was really young. Hubby was working in town then so when she was about 3 years old we agreed to meet him at Oxford Street Circus underground when he had finished for the day and take her to the toy shop and see Santa. Gosh we were all so excited! My mum and I had made a day outing of it, taking Kelly up earlier in the day, on the train, to see where Daddy worked, where everyone made a huge fuss of her. A visit to Hyde Park and feeding the ducks, and then the underground to Oxford Street. We knew the toys were only minutes walk away but NO we had to wait for daddy first. So we waited,... and waited.... and ...yes you get the picture. Kelly was so patient but also so eager to get to the promised wonderland, and to make matters worse it was chucking it down with rain. That cold driving sleety stuff you get in December. Well eventually after over an hour and with only minutes left until Hamley's shut I decided to wander down to the actual underground station to see if the trains had been held up or something, only to find hubby had been standing down there, in the dry and the warm, the WHOLE time!!!! We made Hamleys with only 10 minutes to go before closing time. I could have killed that day, poor Kelly. If only we had had mobile phones in those days.

Anyway to get more in the mood I have decided to show some of the cards I have been making. I never batch make, because I get so bored so easily so every one is a unique design (all be it some are copies from those seen on the net).

Sugar mice

My friend Clare asked a good question today - has anyone seen any sugar mice for sale IRL. You can get them on line but not in real bricks and mortar shops anymore, or if you are lucky enough to find them they seem to be minus their little string tails (Health and Safety I expect).
I remember them so fondly, there were one of the things Santa ALWAYS left in my stocking, along with the nuts and the satsuma, the bottle of bubbles and the balloon.
I tried so hard to make my two girls Christmases as special and as magical as my childhood ones had always been, but sugar mice eluded me. My mum and I had a tradition of picking a town we wouldnt normally shop in to have a day out and do all our christmas shopping. Dad would have the girls and we would take the train to Bromely or Croydon or where-ever, with our lists in hand and come back laden with goodies. And I would always have a weathered eye open for a glimpse of a little pink body with a chocolate coloured nose, and that string. I only got lucky three times, when I discovered the Fudge shop (now no longer there) in Canterbury made them. But now alas it seems that they really have become a thing of the past.
Yet why?
OK so maybe dentists wouldnt approve of all that sugar but hey? Its only once a year.
Going by the responses to Clare's question many others love them too and hate the demise of them.
So I had a little hunt on the net and found two recipes. One on the Bagpuss site http://www.smallfilms.co.uk/bagpuss/sugarmice.htm (because even Bagpuss loved sugar mice!!)

And this one;-

Sugar Mice Ingredients:
2 pounds of granulated sugar
3/4 pint water 3oz glucose (you can get this from Boots, or good cook shops)
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
Nice clean white string
Red food colouring if wished

Method: Put the sugar and water into a pan, and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved.
Add glucose, and boil until 240 degrees fahrenheit/105 centigrade (setting point, again).
Take from heat, and allow to cool until it starts to thicken.
When cool enough to handle, work in the colouring, if you are using it, and knead it. Shape into mice-shapes - or little grubby sausages, if you're under 2 years old.
Make the ears seperately, and press them on.
Take a tiny bit of fondant, work in the cocoa powder and make eyes. Stick the tails into the fondant.
Makes 16 mice (or hedgehogs, or dinosaurs, or grubby things with ears and tails).

Curtesy of http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/recipes/preserves/295588/

Links to manufacturers

Please go check out my friend Suzanne's blog (link to the side) as she has just listed links to 80 scrapbook/craft manufactures on her site. It must have taken her ages but what a brilliant resource to have them all listed in one place so we can all go check out the DT team's work.

And a big thankyou to Clare, Anso and Suzanne who have helped me to get my slide show into my side bar!

Getting to grips

with blogger. So after an hour and a lot of messing about with a different stats counter I have finally managed to get my old one back! I am even starting to get a little (and its a very little) familiar with hmtl code!! Wow!!
So next challenge is to get a slide show in the side bar. Yeah right!! LOL



A bit of really good confidence boosting news. Yesterday the school where I had my interview phoned and offered me a day of supply work. Ok its only one day, and OK maybe I should think - "well if I wasnt good enough to be employed full time ...." but to be honest I am just sooooo very chuffed they actually asked me, and I am going to get back into the classroom. Mind you its a little scary as they have asked me to teach Year 4 and it has been oh so many years since I taught any child over the age of 6!

Where is ....?

So the carpet is down in the craft room and all my stash has been carted back in there. It looks a treat, and I even went over to Dunelm Mill and bought some new curtains and nets so that the neighboughs across the road can have their privacy respected as I scrap. That was fun as they were in the middle of a refit and all the nets were piled in a pallet in an out of bounds part of the shop. The assistant wasnt very helpful, wouldnt let me though and was very unwilling to look for me. She wanted me to come back another day, but its quite a trip for me to get there and I had gone specifically.

Anyway I finally could get back to some paper scrapping. I needed to finish some recipe cards I am doing for a swap. I had made 4 before the move round and had left my tweezers, my beautiful holly garland stamp and my paint brush (Art-Kure) out all ready. So where are they now?????The room is tidy. There is no where for them to hide! Humph!!

Banner

Would you believe that wonderful Clare had already posted a very clear set of instructions for putting a banner on blogger. So it may not be the most artistic banner in the world but it is mine and for now it will do. I may play again later.

The only trouble is that in doing all that I managed to loose my visitor counter so next challenge...to get it back again. LOL

I will only be able to digi scrap for a while, and since I cleared all my photos off the pc and onto discs its a massive hunt through them all to find the photos I want to do that. I cant paper scrap as we went out and got a new carpet for the craft room today and all my stuff is piled up around our bedroom ready for Martin to lay the new carpet tomorrow morning. We got a beautiful bit of Axminster for £50, enough to do the whole room, in the half price sale. It should have been £46 a square metre but it was the end of the roll so was already at a cut down price. Its going to show all the cheapo stuff in the rest of the house up though. Hubby was a triffle put out that there will be better quality carpet in my scrapping room than in all the other rooms. I think I best be a bit careful with the acrylics for a while in there LOL

Updates

Oh slap my wrists, I have not been blogging of late and seem to have fallen behind a bit. But my lovely online friend Anso has just published her very own blog http://glitteradventure.blogspot.com/ and it looks so fab I thought I should really start getting to grips with Blogger a bit more seriously. Hence the template change. I am going to set one challenge at a time and this week it is to work out how to get a pretty banner at the top so if anyone can point me in the direction of some hints, tips or tutorials I would be so grateful.

Ok so updates. Well I went for my interview, and had a terrific day. The day before I went I got a phone call to say one of the candidates had dropped out so it was a two horse race. The staff were so friendly and put me at my ease straight off. The TA I was to work with was wonderful and after only 10 mins went out and told the Head that I was 'lovely'!!

It was fantastic to be back in the classroom with the kids and withing minutes I was so wrapped up in the lesson I forgot it was actually an interview and I was being observed. After that I was meant to get the chance to look round the school but the Deputy Head asked if I wouldn't mind helping his ICT lesson in the ICT suite as he was missing his TA, so I got another chance of teaching, Year 3 this time.

Lunch with the staff where a terrific buffet spread had been put on but I was still too nervous to eat. Shame as there was lashings of lovely chocolate desert and cheesecake. The other candidate said it was horrible being only the two of us especially as I seemed so nice (gosh so not used to all these compliments after all the horrid things my last Head had said about me.)

I felt the actual interview bit had gone ok, and even though the Head quizzed me on the stress and how it had been caused I managed not to say anything detrimental about my last empoyer.

However sadly I did not get the job. In feedback the Head said I had just not said enough about what I knew when asked questions. Basically lack of interview technique. Apparently even after 10 years of teaching and having to follow the National Literacy strategy you can not assume the Head knows you know about teaching phonics and have to actually tell him so!

So onwards and upwards, a brilliant brillant day that did wonders for my confidence and has given me the experience to get the next job that comes my way.

Thank you to all of those virtual friends who wished me a happy birthday. It was a strange day as I was left alone all morning, hubby left to play golf before I was awake, and my two daughters didnt turn up until later as we were having a late family lunch to celebrate. Infact the younger one phoned me to come over to the new house to see progress, then the older one wanted to go over there to take a look, so I got two visits to the building site and even ended up stacking house bricks at one point. Lunch was good, but Kelly had to get home to feed her two new little kittens and mum and dad needed to get back for their dog as the fireworks really really upset the poor little mite, so I got dragged to the pub to watch the Tottenham game!! Hubby says he likes me more since I have had stress as he would never have got away with doing that two years ago LOL

My attempt for International Dare

I counldn't moan about this dare - it was just so spechal!! I used some of the ideas from a brilliant class Maria Horton did for Carolinez Crafts forum. I think I met all the challenges - paint on chipboard swirls, filled the page, mostly with Cherry Artes paper, childhood theme (my youngest daughter's). Ok I didnt journal - I forgot to leave any space LOL and I couldnt bring myself to write on the photo. But thanks girls, I had super fun doing it.